I miss my mom and dad too…
I recalled my old memories at the sight of their reunion. My yearning for my parents was like a stone thrown into a pond, and it stirred ripples from the bottom of my heart.
“s.h.i.+rley…” Elder Alufa wiped his tears and came forward. He staggered. His age was showing.
He had once been full of vigor. I remembered that he had worn a black studded jacket and shades as he strummed a guitar playfully. Although he was bad at it, Elder Alufa had been a cute grandpa with a young heart.
But now, it was as if he had become ten years older overnight. His guilty, sorrowful expression was a heart-rending sight. It wasn"t easy for an old man to carry all the guilt from back then.
s.h.i.+rley immediately pulled Xue Gie behind her. At the same time, the mothers who had reunited with their children quickly did the same. Then, they stared at Elder Alufa coldly again.
Elder Alufa choked with sobs and looked at them, saying, “For the children, forgive me and come home…”
s.h.i.+rley squinted her eyes and smirked coldly. “Come home? Hmph. A place we have no say in could never be home! We are going to stay here!”
Uncle Mason and Sis Ceci let out a breath of relief happily.
“And! We are going to take over Noah!” Suddenly, Sis s.h.i.+rley and the others came forward one after the other like warriors! Then, Elder Alufa was blown into the air by a tornado. Before he could exclaim in surprise, his staff fell from the sky.
“Elder Alufa!” Khai and the others wanted to go forward, but their mothers stopped them!
“No one move!” Sis Cannon"s mother turned to look at all the children. “Back then, they abandoned us and handed us to the Ghost Eclipsers!”
Sis Cannon and the others were shocked at the news. Raffles was surprised too. Sis Ceci and Uncle Mason looked at each other and became silent. a.r.s.enal and everyone else were stunned.
“No! The Ghost Eclipsers came and you went to fight! Then, then, you sacrificed yourselves in the war… right?” Ming You"s eyes quivered as she asked through her sobs.
“Hmph. Of course they would say so,” Ming You"s mother smirked coldly. “We did go to war, because Noah was our home! Of course we would fight to safeguard it! But we never expected that they would run away on their own! They didn"t provide us any support! When we fought against the Ghost Eclipsers, they ran away! We were abandoned by our family!”
Ming You and the others grew pale when they found out the truth, and they became angry!
“You were young back then. Of course they would make up stories to deceive you!” Sis Cannon"s mother was so angry that her voice was s.h.i.+vering. “We held out for so long. If we had received any backup, if we had…” Sis Cannon"s mother lowered her face and wailed tearfully, “Your father wouldn"t have died… s.h.i.+rley was pregnant then! Xue Gie"s father died because of that, too!”
Everyone was stunned beneath the night sky. Khai, Williams, Sia, Joe, Mosie, Moorim, Xiao Ying, Sis Cannon, and everyone else became silent and glared at Noah City.
The air instantly froze and I couldn"t breathe.
“Sister?” Pelos looked at Xue Gie in shock. He was surprised and excited.
“Is that so?” Xue Gie was calm as usual. She walked out expressionlessly and stood in front of Uncle Mason and Sis Ceci, looking at them coldly. Uncle Mason and Sis Ceci looked down in silence, pain, and sorrow.
“No wonder only you were alive! Only Harry had his parents!” Xue Gie"s roar was heartbreaking. It pierced their hearts like ice awls. Her words were cold and hurtful; they felt as if blood couldn"t flow, because it had all frozen on those chilling awls.
The dark night was overcome with dead silence, filled only with the rustling of gra.s.s in the wind. The cool breeze had frozen the hearts of everyone in Noah City.
Everyone looked at Uncle Mason and Sis Ceci. As Elder Alufa was still suspended in the air, all their questioning gazes were fixed upon Sis Ceci and Uncle Mason. It was as if they were being interrogated!
Xue Gie looked at a.r.s.enal, who was standing silently. “a.r.s.enal, hand over Noah.” a.r.s.enal looked at Xue Gie in shock. Mosie and Brother Qian Li immediately ran up to a.r.s.enal, shocking their mothers.
Xue Gie extended her hand to a.r.s.enal. “Hand over Noah!” Xue Gie said grimly again, and her snow-white hair fluttered in the breeze. The surrounding chill was extremely clear in the dark night. She was like a dignified Snow Queen.
“Xue Gie, you can"t force a.r.s.enal!” Mosie said hastily.
Brother Qian Li looked sad. “Xue Gie, a.r.s.enal"s father is among them too. He was sacrificed in the war, too.”
“But she has her grandpa,” Xue Gie said expressionlessly. “You heard what happened back then too. If it weren"t because our parents are alive today, we would never have found out the truth!”
I looked at everyone with conflicted feelings. It was my first time hearing Xue Gie say such a long sentence. Xue Gie had always been calm and never swayed by emotions. But once she decided on something, nothing would change her mind.
a.r.s.enal clenched her fists and stared at Xue Gie. “Someone took Noah away from me once. I definitely won"t let anyone do it again!” she shouted loudly.
I knew Xue Gie"s character. She would do what she said.
“We have no choice but to become enemies then.” Xue Gie"s voice was low, and there were ice beads condensing in the air. “Our sisterhood... ends... here!” She swept her right hand across the air, and there was a huge ice awl that landed instantly out of the night sky. It stabbed into the ground in between her and a.r.s.enal.
“Psst… they are fighting…” Ah Zong leaned against the door. “There are people that we hate more. We shouldn"t hate our family…”
I couldn"t help but crease my eyebrows. Although I expected there to be a dispute, I had never expected Sis s.h.i.+rley to attack Noah City. However, from her point of view, she hadn"t done anything wrong. She was left behind by Noah once. Why should she believe in Noah again just because they said so?
As Noah was a great place to reside, she might as well take it over and make herself the master. She naturally wouldn"t have to worry about being betrayed or abandoned then.
“No… that"s not right!” Ming You ran forward and stood between both parties. She looked at everyone in distress, saying, “There must be a misunderstanding. Xue Gie, a.r.s.enal, we were once sisters. Why do we have to become enemies today? We grew up together, lived together, did missions together. Have you forgotten all that? We were once brothers and sisters!” Ming You looked at Xue Gie, then at a.r.s.enal, then at Khai, then at me.
We were once sisters and brothers. We sat quietly under the sunlight, and swam under the moonlight. We practiced shooting skills together. We fought together. We did missions together. We pulled pranks on Elder Alufa and Uncle Mason together.
This is… not right…